Films that include one or more layers of a polyurethane material are known. Some of these films are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,607,831, 5,405,675, 5,468,532 and 6,383,644, United States Patent Publication No. US 2006/0127666, as well as International (PCT) Patent Application No. PCT/EP93/01294 (i.e., Publication No. WO 93/24551) and No. PCT/US2006/015699 (i.e., Publication No. WO 2006/118883). Some of these films have been used in surface protection applications. For example, actual film products that have been used to protect the painted surface of selected automobile body parts include multilayer films manufactured by 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn., under the product designations Scotchcal™ high performance protective film PUL0612, PUL1212 and PUL1212DC.
These polymeric films are often backed with a pressure sensitive adhesive which is protected with a conventional release liner. Such film assemblies are often wound into rolls, with the front surface of the polymeric film facing outward and the surface of the release liner facing inward. In addition, discrete pieces of such adhesive-backed film are often die cut out of such a rolled film assembly, with each piece having a surface area with a desired 2-dimensional shape and a peripheral edge that defines the 2-dimensional shape of the surface area. These discrete pieces of film are usually removed from the release liner and applied separately to a desired location on the surface of a substrate.